Black Nativity

Synopsis

The Musical Event of the Holiday Season

A street-wise teen from Baltimore who has been raised by a single mother travels to New York City to spend the Christmas holiday with his estranged relatives, where he embarks on a surprising and inspirational journey.

Based on the play by Langston Hughes, Kasi Lemmons' film boasts a talented all-black cast including Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett and Jacob Latimore.

With rather generic songs (even the classic lament "Motherless Child" is given a commercial gloss) and a plot which takes inspiration from the Holy Nativity, this film focuses on young Langston, who seems headed for a life of crime, but whose rediscovery of his grandparents brings the family back together.

Nice enough, but it doesn't quite take fire and Hudson's singing seems a long way behind her work in Dreamgirls.

Based on the play by Langston Hughes, Kasi Lemmons' film boasts a talented all-black cast including Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett and Jacob Latimore.

With rather generic songs (even the classic lament "Motherless Child" is given a commercial gloss) and a plot which takes inspiration from the Holy Nativity, this film focuses on young Langston, who seems headed for a life of crime, but whose rediscovery of his grandparents brings the family back together.

Nice enough, but it doesn't quite take fire and Hudson's singing seems a long way behind her work in Dreamgirls.

I'm not logging this because I haven't seen it since it came out, but I think I'll always remember I saw it because being a solitary white guy in an empty screening of this made for one of the more odd movie-going experiences I can remember.